FFXV: After the Fall

Chapter 5

A few hours later, Helena and Ignis were busying at the cooking station while the others sat around the campfire and Gladiolus finished pitching the large tent. This one was a model that could house five, and came with a set of screens that could create a separate area within the internal space. He never thought he'd end up using this one- he'd bought it so that he'd got the whole set, really- but he was still glad that it was seeing use.
That's what they were designed for, after all. He was hoping to not need the screens after a while longer, though.
   "Ha, that one turned out good too." Prompto was going through his collection of pictures from earlier in the day.
Helena looked over at him. "Let's see."
He turned the picture around and held it up, and she grinned. It was the selfie he'd taken of all of them from up the first mountain they'd had to climb. His cheeky grin was foremost in the picture, then everyone else had stood further back. Noctis had been on the outside, and Gladiolus had slipped his arm across her shoulders. "Yeah, that's a great picture." She remarked.
   "The famous five." Prompto chuckled. "Make a good team."
   "You mean we do." Ignis reminded him. "You ran off."
   "You think I'm gonna stand still when we saw the owner of that giant bird nest? No, way. What happened, anyways?"
   "You missed...an event."
   "Sure was." Gladiolus laughed as he sat down at the campfire.
   "Aw c'mon." Prompto wheedled at him. "Pleeeeeease?"
Helena shook her head. "I'll tell you, okay?"
   "Yeah! So what happened?"
   "Well, after your brilliant idea of trying to create a diversion for that giant bird we had land next to us..."
   "Hey!"
   "That didn't work, by the way. So, I decided to talk to him."
   "My ears are still ringing." Noctis grinned.
   "Er...yeah, I kinda stuffed it up a little."
Prompto blinked. "How? You're still alive."
   "Oh no, not in that way. I kinda didn't know what to say to something that has feathers bigger than I am tall, so I...decided to talk about his egg."
   "...oh shit."
   "Oh yeah. I tried to look up at him and I was like, yeah, so...we're just passin' through and, uh...nice egg, by the way." She then grimaced. "Fuck's sake, that was a bad call. Would he shut up about the damn egg? No. We just decided to go after that."
   "Was he still talking?"
   "Far as I know, yeah. Don't think he noticed us even leave."
Prompto burst out laughing. "Oh that's rich, you tell us all about never mentioning eggs, and what did you do again?"
   "Hey, at least I don't back down from a forty-foot bird!" She levelled her finger at him briefly.
   "Well I...yeah, I've no rebuttal for that one."
   "Rule number one," Noctis smiled, "don't piss off the chef."
   "What's cookin', anyways? I'm starving."
   "It's called lasagna." Helena said. "I think you'll like this."
   "What's it like?" Gladiolus asked her.
   "Well, it's layers of minced meat in sauce sandwiched between layers of pasta, with a mild cheese sauce. I've also added extra cheese to the top as well as on the biscuits, and I've done chips."
He grinned. "You really did hit 'em all."
   "Just about, yeah. Was stuck for a while."
   "I'll be able to make this too." Ignis told them all. "I've made numerous notes on the dish." He then looked at the chips. "I believe these are about done." He informed her.
   "Okay, let's have a look at this." She grabbed the oven gloves and lifted the pie dish out of the portable oven. "This looks done too...love it when that happens." She picked up a fork and tested the lasagna, nodding afterwards. "Right, so who'd like to-"
   "I will." For a man of his size, Gladiolus got to his feet incredibly fast. He walked over to Helena, and she gave him the fork.
   "Fingers crossed." She smiled. "Careful, it'll be real hot."
   "Never seen this before, looks nice though."
   "It's one of our favourites, back home. Kids love it too. Maybe even...big kids?"
He tried some, then stared at her. "...marry me."
She started grinning as the others laughed.
   "Wow, that good huh?"
   "Hell yeah. Hope you made a lot."
   "I did, seeing as we've been climbing for most of the day. There's definitely seconds."
   "I may need more than that. I'll give you a hand."